The 111th edition of Paris-Tours turned into a Quick-Step Floors exhibition, with Matteo Trentin and Niki Terpstra taking over the role of main protagonists after defending champion Fernando Gaviria crashed on the wet roads in a corner, 20 kilometers from the finish. The race was brought to life by the 28-year-old Italian inside the last ten kilometers, on Côte de Beau Soleil, where his devastating attack blown the peloton apart and sparked a response from only a handful of riders.

On Côte de l'Epan, the day's last climb, Trentin got out of the saddle again and his fierce acceleration led to another important selection, only teammate Niki Terpstra and Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) making the cut this time. As the road flattened out and the chasers began pulling behind, the trio enjoyed a 12-second advantage, which they maintained thanks to the fantastic work laid down by Niki, who put in some strong turns at the front, ensuring the three won't get caught by the group.

Having enjoyed a superb second part of the season, with six wins – including four stages at the Vuelta a España – Matteo Trentin was the favourite to take the victory and the Italian didn't disappoint, opening his sprint with 250 meters to go and powering to his second success in three years at the French classic, which Quick-Step Floors have now won for the third consecutive season, a record for a squad in the commercial team era.

Matteo Trentin wins Paris-Tours

"The light rain and wet roads made for a strung out bunch, so on the first hill I said to myself it won't hurt to give it a go. A first group formed, but then I went again and Niki came across. We played perfect tactics and Niki did an incredible work and a provided a superb lead-out in the last kilometer."

I want to thank to Quick-Step Floors for these seven years, it was an honour to ride with them and I'm proud of bringing down the curtain over my time here with a second victory in Paris-Tours", said Matteo Trentin at the end of the race which three of his teammates finished in the top 10: Niki Terpstra (3rd), Maximiliano Richeze (5th) and Yves Lampaert (7th).

Paris-Tours also marked the end of the classics season, one which will go down as a truly memorable and dominant one for our team, who took the spoils on five occasions, an outstanding feat completed by ten more top-3 finishes between the months of March and October, and made even more remarkable by the fact Quick-Step Floors became the first outfit in six years to podium in all five Monuments.

Soren Andersen was second. Here's what his Sunweb team had to say:

The action at Paris-Tours got underway today with a 234.5 kilometre bumpy route from Brou to Tours. In a similar style to the U23 race, plenty of attacks were launched in the opening kilometres but it was at 25 kilometres before a 5-rider group opened up a significant lead. As their advantage stretched out to just under six minutes, the peloton began to organise their chase. With 33 kilometres the breakaway came within a minute of the peloton and Mike Teunissen seized the opportunity to go on the attack from the bunch.

After a brief stint just ahead of the field, Mike was reeled in by the bunch and the remaining breakaway riders remained within 30 seconds of the peloton until 10 kilometres to go, where the day’s last climb was positioned. As soon as the race came back together the pace was ramped up in the bunch and a six rider group edged clear, with Søren Kragh Andersen there for Team Sunweb. More accelerations from the leading group saw Søren go clear with two other riders. The trio opened up a 15 second gap over their pursvuiviants, a gap that they managed to hold until the line. As one of his companions opened out their sprint, Søren immediately followed and in an intense finale, he took 2nd place.

REACTIONS

Søren said: “Today was a great day for the team. We had a plan which we completely followed and executed to perfection. I am really happy for the amazing support the boys gave me and they definitely made it possible for me to fight for the win. It’s a great feeling to end my season like this, and for the whole team. I’m already looking forward to coming back next year for a new season!”

Team Sunweb coach Arthur van Dongen said: “The team worked really well together throughout the day and everything that we had discussed upfront worked out well. The guys were in position where they needed to be on the important moments and we tried a few different cards throughout the day. In the end it was Søren in a move that made it to the line and he performed great. We can be really proud that we finish the European road season with a podium place.”

UAE Team Emirates headed to Tour of Turkey

The squad sent me this preview:

UAE Team Emirates has chosen the 8 riders who will participate in the second-to-last event on the 2017 World Tour calendar, the Tour of Turkey (October 10-15).

Here are the cyclists available to Sports Directors Bruno Vicino (Italy) and Daniele Righi (Italy):

The Tour of Turkey will feature 6 stages: the 4th fraction, with an uphill arrival in Selçuc, will probably be decisive for the general classification. The tour will wrap up in Istanbul on Sunday, October 15th.

Sports Director Bruno Vicino outlined the possibilities for the Turkish race: “The Tour of Turkey has always been a hard-fought race and this year it became a World Tour event, so there will definitely be a higher level of competition. The fourth stage with an uphill arrival in Selçuc will be critical for the general classification, but we shouldn’t underestimate the fifth stage with arrival in Izmir: Atapuma and Ulissi, with some support from Ravasi and Niemiec, could grab the spotlight here. In the fractions with simpler altimetry, we will give Consonni and Kump some room, with Laengen and Zurlo ready to jump on any chance to break out.”

Diego Ulissi racing at this year's Tour of Romandie

Diego Ulissi: “I’ll be participating in the Tour of Turkey for the second time in my career; I’ve only ridden in the 2010 edition. I’m glad to be returning to Turkey, especially to mark the race becoming a part of the World Tour circuit. I’m in good form in this end of season; I hope this will help me be competitive in the more demanding stages.”